These activities are designed to include Missouri, Illinois, and national standards for Social Studies and Language Arts

Overview

This companion guide features background information on the processes of the judicial branch. Pre-site activities include the roles in the courtroom, selecting a jury and filing a subpoena. Post-site activities consist of appealing the case, real world connections and classroom extensions. All of the activities are excellent for classes preparing for a visit to the Old Courthouse.

Vocabulary

appeal - to ask a higher court for a review of a lower court's ruling on a caseappellate court - a court that reviews appealsattorney - a person legally authorized to act on behalf of another in legal matters; typically, someone who has studied and is licensed to practice lawbailiff - an officer of the court; guards the jury and enforces courtroom securitybench - the place in the courtroom where the judge sitsburden of proof - the plaintiff’s duty of proving his/her claim or chargecivil case - a legal action started by one party against another; typically seeks recovery for a private wrongclerk - officer of the court; maintains public record of court proceedings and swears in the jury and witnessesclosing arguments - final opportunity for attorneys to summarize their arguments and persuade the jury before the close of the trialcriminal case - legal action started by a federal, state or local prosecutor against a party accused of violating a specific law/set of lawscross-examination - questioning a witness by the opposing attorneydamages - money for injury or loss to be paid by one party to another as ordered by courtdefendant - the party/parties in a trial being sued or accused; opposite of plaintiffdeliberate - to think or consider carefully before making a decision; to consider all the evidence in order to reach a just verdictevidence - something presented before the court (object, witness statement) to support a legal argument foreperson - chairperson on a jury; a person who leads or organizes thediscussion of a jury and is responsible for trying to keep order.guilty - judged in a court as having done something wrongimpartial - Not favoring one side or another; fair.innocent - Not guilty of some crime; blameless.judge - A public official with power to hear cases in a court of law and decide what laws apply to them.justice - The upholding of what is just or lawful; the condition of being fair.jury - A group of people who have sworn to decide the facts in a court case and to reach a fair decisionor verdict.legal - Of or based on law; allowed by law.oath - a formal promise to perform a specific duty or actobjection - A request by an attorney during a trial that the judge order the witness not toanswer a question asked by the other attorney. The judge must either “sustain” the objection (agreewith it and forbid the witness to answer it) or “overrule” it (allow the question to be asked).opening statements - the presentations made by the attorneys on each side of a case at the start of atrialoverrule - to rule out or set aside a ruling by someone of lesser authority.parties - individuals, corporations, or groups involved in a case.plaintiff - person who starts an action, files a complaint, or sues another person.subpoena - an official paper ordering a person to appear in court.suit - A lawsuit; an action started by one party against another to recover losses believed to have beencaused by the second party.Supreme Court - The highest court in a judicial system. Its makes the final decision on cases which itagrees to review.sustain - To hold up or support; to uphold as true or right.testimony - Evidence given after taking an oath in court to tell the truth; questions answered underoath concerning what one knows about a case being heard in court.trial - the formal presentation from both sides of a dispute before a jury or a judgeTrial Court - The first court to hear and decide upon a case. If no appeal is made, it is the onlycourt to hear the case.unanimous - showing complete agreement, with no one opposedverdict - The decision that a jury or judge makes after hearing and considering all of the evidence andtestimony in a case.witness - Someone who has seen or heard something; someone who provides evidence about something; someone who is officially ordered to testify in court.